Table Of ContentInitial Report of Continental
Scientifi c Drilling Project of the
Cretaceous Songliao Basin (SK-1)
in China
Initial Report of Continental
Scientifi c Drilling Project of the
Cretaceous Songliao Basin (SK-1)
in China
Wang Chengshan, Feng Zhiqiang, Wang Pujun,
Stephan A. Graham, et al.
Elsevier
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Foreword 1
T
he exploration of the universe, of the Earth’s interior, and of the oceans are three great endea-
vors of humanity challenging nature in order to improve living conditions for humans.
Scientific drilling is a significant exploration tools in current Earth science research. We can directly
observe the lithosphere, which we know little about, and obtain the rock record from its deeper parts
through scientific drilling programs. Drilling provides important information about natural resources,
disaster prediction, and a variety of environmental problems currently facing modern human society.
Therefore, scientific drilling can be thought of as a telescope for us to look into the depths of the
Earth and far back into the past, in order to better understand Earth’s evolution. Plate tectonics
theory that developed in the middle of the 20th century is the result of a revolution in Earth science
based on ocean scientific drilling. Ocean scientific drilling currently has entered the third stage, the
Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), the previous stages being the Deep Sea Drilling Project
(DSDP) and the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP), with the former initiated in the early 1960s.
Humans aspire to better understand the evolution history of the Earth’s continents, which have
complex interactions with the oceans, climate, and life on Earth, by employing continental scientific
drilling as one of the principal tools. To achieve such an objective, Germany, the United States,
and China set up jointly in February 1996 the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program
(ICDP). Presently, about 20 states and member organizations participate in the ICDP. The Ministry
of Science and Technology of China has sent delegates to represent the Chinese government as
councilors of the Assembly of Governors (AOG) in the ICDP, to assist in policy formulation and
important decision making.
Since the implementation of the ICDP, many continental scientific drilling projects have
been completed. As a result, discoveries have been made in five key research themes: the physical
and chemical processes responsible for earthquakes and volcanic eruptions; the manner in which
the earth’s climate has changed in the recent and deep past and the reasons for such changes; the
effects of major impacts on climate and mass extinctions; how sedimentary basins and hydrocarbon
resources originate and evolve; how ore deposits are formed in diverse geologic settings. Two
ICDP scientific drilling projects have been completed in China, including the Chinese Continental
Scientific Drilling (CCSD) project in Donghai County, Jiangsu Province, and the Lake Qinghai
Scientific Drilling Project.
Another ambitious scientific drilling project currently in progress is the Continental Scientific
Drilling Project of the Cretaceous Songliao Basin (SK-1) in the Daqing oil field, which represents
x Initial Report of Continental Scientifi c Drilling Project of the Cretaceous Songliao Basin (SK-1) in China
the largest known oil field in China. The SK-1 drilling process was completed in 2007. This project
is supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) “Integrated Study on
the Cretaceous Major Geological Events and Greenhouse Climate Change,” jointly sponsored by the
National Ministry of Science and Technology of China and the Daqing Oilfield Company Ltd., and
organized by China University of Geosciences, Beijing (CUGB), and the Daqing Oilfield Company
Ltd. The Continental Scientific Drilling Project of the Cretaceous Songliao Basin has two major
objectives: one is to correlate the oceanic and continental records and determine the principal drivers
of climate change in order to assist in future climate change predictions and its influence on the
Earth’s environment; the other is to further test the theory of terrestrial genesis of hydrocarbons, and
to explore the formation of intra-continental sedimentary basins, as many are major hydrocarbon
provinces. In addition, this project provides the scientific basis for exploration of the Daqing
Oilfields, with a yearly production of 40 million tons of oil.
In order to share the original data and preliminary scientific results of the SK-1 project with
international geoscientists, similar to the success of the ODPs, the SK-1 preliminary results are
presented here in “Initial Reports of Continental Scientific Drilling Project of the Cretaceous
Songliao Basin (SK-1).”
During the writing and publishing of this book, we were delighted to learn that the “Continental
Scientific Drilling Project of the Cretaceous Songliao Basin: Continuous High-resolution Terrestrial
Archive and Greenhouse Climate Change” was approved by the ICDP in September, 2009. The
project, led by the CUGB and the Daqing Oilfield Company Ltd., includes scientists from more than
10 countries, including the United States and Austria, and is spearheaded by Chinese scientists. This
project consists of two stages: the first stage named SK-1, which has been successfully completed,
includes penetration of strata from the K/T boundary to Upper Cretaceous; and the second stage,
named SK-2 which will begin soon, includes penetration of strata from the Lower Cretaceous
to J/K boundary. The Ministry of Science and Technology of China will continue to support this
important scientific endeavor that represents an important leap forward in Chinese Earth sciences
and welcomes international scientists to share and participate in the scientific research.
The world is entering an exciting new era to explore the Earth, in which scientific drilling will
provide a quantum leap in our understanding of the deep Earth and its deep history. It is expected
that the publication of this book will play an important role in promoting scientific drilling and
Earth system science research. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China will
continuously support the Chinese Earth science community to assume its important responsibilities
and to play a greater role in this human endeavour.
Wan Gang
Minister of Science and Technology of China
January 8, 2010
Foreword 2
S ediment basins around the world host the most important resources for mankind: hydrocarbons
and groundwater. Yet, the evolution of many of these basins over geological times is still often
poorly studied, despite the fact that the continuous deposition of sediments often provides very
valuable records of the past.
Depositional basins formed in continental environments are one of the least understood major
sediment sinks. Their detailed stratigraphy and structure are the keys to shedding fresh light on
orogenic and sediment supply processes, but especially on the environmental and climate evolution
encapsuled therein.
Therefore, the International Continental Scientific Drilling program, ICDP endorses continental
basin research and is accordingly, for example, recently supporting two major study programs,
namely in the Colorado Plateau in the southwestern United Sates and foremost in the Songliao Basin
in northeastern China.
This volume summarizes in great detail the current status of knowledge derived from surface
and borehole investigations at the Songliao Basin. Especially the two drilled core holes, SK-1 and
SK-2, provide insight into the turbulent greenhouse climate world of the Cretaceous. Research
highlights encompass the complex interplay of terrestrial and marine influences, the resulting biotic
response, and carbon cycling, as well as the terrestrial reaction to major oceanic events—all of them
studied with most modern methods and instruments.
The close cooperation of a Chinese-led international scientific team, national funding agencies,
and researchers and engineers of the hydrocarbon industry makes this project outstanding. The
mutual benefit for science in getting deep access to a major continental basin and for industry
in getting novel interpretations for sedimentary basin and hydrocarbon origins is obvious. In
documenting such fruitful work, this volume is setting the stage for the even more preeminent deep
drilling program that will be executed soon in the Songliao Basin.
Rolf Emmermann
Chair of the ICDP Executive Committee
October 25, 2011
Preface
S
cientific drilling began with the “Deep Sea Drilling Project” in the 1960s and led early to a
major scientific breakthrough and geosciences revolution, which has changed our views
of the Earth (Wang, 2007). With ocean studies currently highly advanced, there is a particular
need for Earth system studies to obtain relevant information from the continents. This prompted
establishment of the International Continental Drilling Programe (ICDP) (Harms et al., 2007).
Since the foundation of the ICDP in 1996, initially launched by Germany, the United States,
and China, interest in the program has expanded to its current participation of over 20 member
countries. More than 100 continental scientific drilling boreholes of different depths have already
been completed in more than 13 countries. The implementation of the continental scientific drilling
has contributed to an increase in our understanding of continental plate motion, crustal stresses
and earthquakes, volcanic processes, deep resources, the origin of life, earthquake hazards, global
climate change, etc. (Truman, 2000; Detlev et al., 2004). In the spring of 1999, under the direction
of Chinese scientists, ODP Leg 184 was implemented in the South China Sea and obtained
sedimentary records for the past 30 million years. This project not only resolved the history of
the South China Sea’s climate and environment change, but also elucidated the long-term ocean
carbon pool (Wang, 2007). The Chinese Continental Scientific Drilling (CCSD) project in Donghai
County, Jiangsu Province, completed in March 2005, was located south of the Sulu ultra-high
pressure (UHP) metamorphic belt, which is one of the largest in the world. This was the first time
that scientific drilling in an UHP metamorphic belt had been attempted and significant advances
were made in the precise dating of deep subduction of voluminous continental material, UHP deep
subduction metamorphism and exhumation, protolith formation, upper mantle rheology, discovery
of new mantle minerals, subsurface fluid anomalies, and subsurface microorganisms (Liu et al.,
2001; Hartmut, 2002; Xu et al., 2005; Zhang et al., 2005, 2006). Qinghai Lake is located at the
northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, boarding the Huangtu Plateau in the east, and represents
the transition between the east-Asia monsoonal humid climate region and the inland arid region.
The area is, therefore, very sensitive to climate and global environment change and was selected as
the preferential location for environmental studies in western China, and for determining the role of
global climatic change during the Tibetan Plateau uplift (An, 2006; Colman et al., 2007). The Lake
Qinghai Scientific Drilling Project began in July 2005 with a purpose of understanding east-Asia
monsoon climate and inland arid climate change, evolution of Qinghai Lake basin structure, and the
history of Qinghai Lake surface fluctuation (An, 2006; Colman et al., 2007).
xiv Initial Report of Continental Scientifi c Drilling Project of the Cretaceous Songliao Basin (SK-1) in China
In the past 100 years, the global climate has experienced a great change represented by
significant warming. Human civilization is faced with an increasing urgency to understand global
climate change and its potential effects on ecosystems, resources, and habitability. This research has
so far been focused on the modern and Quaternary climate record. The way to understanding the
Earth’s climate system demands a fully integrated exploration of the Earth and its geological history.
Based on this premise, the“Deep Time”research project, which incorporates information of the
Earth’s ancient climate change prior to the Quaternary, studies climate changes and main geological
events using sedimentary records in pre-Quaternary rocks, in order to better predict future climate
change (Sun and Wang, 2009). A new era in the Ocean Drilling Project (IODP) began in 2003
when it adopted “Environmental change, processes and effects” as one of the three most important
scientific areas of ocean research. Over 30 International Continental Scientific Drilling Projects
have been completed, which include climate change and global environment, impact structures,
geobiosphere and early life, volcanic systems and thermal regimes, mantle plumes and rifting, active
faulting, collision zones and convergent margins, natural resources, etc. Half of these projects were
targeted to research related to “climate change and global environment.” The ability to predict future
global climate change has become an important objective for the scientific community with an
indirect impact on the well-being of the whole of humanity.
Recent global climate is characterized by oscillating glacial-interglacial periods under
“icehouse” conditions controlled by Milankovich cycles (Miller et al., 1991; Wang, 2000). This
is because, since the Cenozoic, the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has been
lower than the threshold amount (about 560 ppmV; DeConto and Pollard, 2003). If the concentration
of CO in the atmosphere exceeds this critical concentration of about 560 ppmV, it will result in
2
melting of the ice cover at the North and South poles, and it is widely held that the Earth may be
entering a greenhouse climate state with a global climate very different from the present. As a
result of human activity, the CO content in the atmosphere is continuously increasing, and it may
2
exceed the critical concentration in the near future. Concentration levels of CO may approach
2
those modeled for the Cretaceous (Daniel et al., 2001; Berner and Kothavala, 2001). Hence, it is
particularly important to understand how and why the climate changed in the Cretaceous.
During the past 40 years, oceanic scientific drilling projects have targeted the Cretaceous
period and the climatic changes that occurred during that time. Research of the ocean response
to Cretaceous climate changes is well advanced, but what is little known is the response of the
continental environment; and no scientific drilling project has been done to obtain evidence from the
Cretaceous terrestrial sedimentary record.
The reason for this is that the Cretaceous continental record is fragmentary and less extensive
when compared to the oceanic basins. Sea level in the middle Cretaceous was the highest during
the past 250 Ma (Haq et al., 1987). At that time, the global continental areas shrank and the
largest continent was that of the East-Asia area (inside cover). One of the areas with an extensive
continental Cretaceous record is in China. Oil exploration in the Songliao Basin of northern
China has demonstrated that this intercontinental basin, which was mostly a freshwater lake for
the duration of the Cretaceous to Early Tertiary time, contains an almost continuous sedimentary
Preface xv
record. Thus, the Songliao Basin was selected by Chinese scientists to conduct research into the
Cretaceous continental climate. Further studies on marine-terrestrial correlation, paleoclimate
and paleoenvironment reconstruction, terrestrial response to major geological events, large scale
hydrocarbon formations, terrestrial biotic evolution, and rapid climate changes under greenhouse
climate conditions, will provide important information about the nature and mechanisms of
Cretaceous climate change, allowing predictions of future climate change, and provide exploration
targets in the Daqing Oilfield.
The “Continental Scientific Drilling Project of Cretaceous Songliao Basin: Continuous High-
resolution Terrestrial Archives and Greenhouse Climate Change” is designed as a two-stage drilling
program. The first stage, SK-1, includes drilling of early Tertiary to Lower-Upper Cretaceous strata.
This stage has been completed. The next stage, SK-2, will drill Middle and Lower Cretaceous to the
Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary rocks and will begin soon. When completed, the entire Cretaceous
continental sedimentary record will be available for paleoclimate studies for the first time globally.
In order to share this unique primary data with the international scientific community, this book
Initial Report of Continental Scientific Drilling Project of the Cretaceous Songliao Basin was
compiled and published with Chinese and English language editions.
During drilling of SK-1, to ensure the core recovery ratio, we integrated a series of drilling
and coring techniques, invented long-term preservation techniques, and established ten complete,
continuous, high-resolution (centimeter) geological profiles. The Late Cretaceous chronological
framework of Chinese terrestrial strata was revised according to the results of this drilling project.
SK-1 is the first scientific drilling project to continuously core Cretaceous strata in China and
obtained continuous, high-resolution, little disturbed, continental sedimentary records of the
Middle-Late Cretaceous age that may become a standard for global terrestrial Cretaceous research.
SK-1 has made significant advances in areas such as drilling engineering, logging engineering, core
repository, etc., and relevant technologies have been applied in these areas to yield important social
and economic benefits.
The following researchers have contributed to SK-1 studies: Wang Chengshan (Co-Chief
scientist), Feng Zhiqiang (Co-Chief scientist), Wang Pujun (Geological director), Feng Zihui
(Geochemical research), Yang Gansheng (Drilling engineering director), Wu Heyong (Site
selection), Wan Xiaoqiao (Palaeontology research), Ren Yanguang (Site selection), Huang Yongjian
(Sedimentary geochemical research), Chi Yuanlin (Logging engineering), Li Yule (Drilling
engineering of SK-1s), Zhu Yongyi (Drilling engineering of SK-1n), Wang Zhongxing (Core
preservation), Deng Chenglong (Paleomagnetic research), He Mingyue (Core transportation and
preservation).
This initial report is a crystallization of the collective wisdom of many institutes and scholars
that have contributed to this book. The writers discussed the content and outline of this book in
detail at meetings in Beijing, Changzhou, and Guangzhou. Wang Chengshan, and Feng Zhiqiang
wrote the Preface; Wang Pujun and Wang Chengshan wrote Sections 1 and 2; Feng Zhiqiang Yang
Gansheng, Wang Pujun, and Wu Xinsong wrote Section 3; Wang Chengshan, Feng Zhiqiang, Wang
Pujun, Deng Chenglong, Wu Xinsong, Huang Yongjian, He Huaiyu, Dong Hailiang, Song Zhiguang,
